Unrivaled Passion

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check out this video of the better times

Good Evening from New York City!!!


John and i have made it safely to the big apple and our enjoying our first day since Nevada!!!! I think everyone would agree that we needed these days of rest. It will certainly rejuvenate us to spend some time with friends and share stories over beers and laughs....

Our trek up the Atlantic coast has been truly special. We cycled through northern Virginia and made our way to the nations capital!!! In DC we made a visit to the national monument and the lincoln memorial! It was a great place to visit, especially considering John and I had just seen the diverse communities and vast landscapes of the United States. To be honest, it was in DC that John and I finally felt that we actually biked across country, it was a remarkbale feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment....From DC we biked to my old hometown of Baltimore Maryland and got to go back to my old house and my old school. It was a special moment for me and it is exactly what this trip is all about!

Anyways, John and I are here in NYC and we will be heading to CT on saturday morning! Last nigh we went out to dinner at a resaurant where one of our friends works and another amazing moment occured. We sat down next to a couple who's daughter had cycled across the country. Immediately, they were interested in our travels, and we ended up having a great conversation with them throughout the entire meal. To our surprise, when the couple left, they ended up paying for our dinner! Can you believe that? It was such a mitzvah as we would say in Judaism, and it is one of the stories john and i will never forget. As some of you know, today is my birthday and i am being called away from the computer to celebrate!!!! John and I will keep treking to maine with passion and dedication!!!! We love ya all,


Noah & John


Weight Update:

John and I have officially lost 20 lbs on the trip.....However, we are very attractive/bearded men!!!! How you doin?

A very happy hello from Charlottesville VA!

As some of you know, i was just in Charlottesville in April to visit my good friend Brian Katzenberg, and it is so good to be back here on the campus of University of Virginia! Thanks to Brian, John and I are staying at his old frat house (SPE) for the night and i promise i won't let John drink too many beers! We may even hit the town tonight.....it's been a while

We arrived today off of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is one of the most beautiful roads in the Appalachian mountains. As always in Virginia, we got rained on and it was quite a trek through the mountainous terrain with strong winds and heavy rain. The Appalachian mountains were very steep at times and offered a good challenge. As it turns out, i threw up some tomato juice as i was climbing one of the steep hills, but i made it to the top regardless(duh)....Be sure to check out the photos John puts up, they were taken right before it started to rain.....

I want to share with you another amazing story of generosity that occurred last night in Lexington Virginia. John and I had just finished our longest mileage day of the trip (116) and were sitting on the side of the road in Lexington trying to figure out where we were going to stay for the night. Before you know it, we were approached by a couple walking to dinner named David & Catherine. David is the head geology professor at Washington & Lee University and I am not really sure what Catherine does, but she was quite a cool chick. Anyways, they opened their homes to us, gave us showers and beds, and even took us out to dinner at a nice Bistro in Town!! I know i have said this before, but John and I continue to be amazed with the amount of gracious hospitality given by people all across the country. Strangers turn into people that John and i will remember forever. Moreover, John and I remain in their memories forever and the bond we shared for that one evening is what makes this kind of trip truly special and unique.....

I must say that John and I are amazed that we are in Virginia. Tomorrow we start our trek North up the Atlantic Coast and are trying to be in New York City by July 26th (My birthday by the way) We hope to see all of you soon, take good care.........


P.S. Mike---if you are reading this blog, we are taking the short cut and we printed out the route from your blog...thanks so much

---BDS-----thanks for all the messages.....we will see you in Boston soon enough...We hope you are having a wonderful summer!!!!

much love

NOah & John

Can you say Virginia?!!!!!!

I have to be quick as John and I are using the Internet in a Pizza Parlor in Damascus Virginia.....We spent the day climbing the steep but beautiful Appalachian mountains!!! We are spending the night at a hostel here in town known as "The Place." It is a house behind a church and is full of other hikers and bikers making their way through the Appalachian trail.....

It feels good to be on the east coast, John and I are baffled by our progress and stay by the phone as we will be making our way up the East Coast soon enough!!!!! We have to run as my calzone is hot out of the oven.....We miss you all

For the record, John and I still have not shaved.......be prepared.

Hello from Kentucky!!!

Currently John and I are staying at a Baptist Church in Sebree Kentucky. The pastor who runs the church, Bob, and his wife Violet have been housing cyclists for the past 28 years! We are staying in the youth center of the church and the children who belong to the church made us packed lunches for tomorrows ride and wrote us notes telling us how much Jesus loves us. I can't tell you how thrilled John and I are that Jesus loves us !!! What would we do without him? Ok...enough...

Our ride through Missouri finished off nicely and we left the Ozark mountains and ran into dogs and lots of them. Honestly, John has had it much worse then i have. He has been chased by many more dogs, and at times had to get off his bike and fight them off with water or even his own bike. I think it was a relief for both John and i to get out of Missouri!

We crossed the Mississippi river into Illinois and truly felt as though we were making progress on this journey. As of today, we have crossed the 2,800 mile marker and our about 250 miles away from Virginia! Can you believe it? Illinois was very short and sweet as our route took us by coal factories and back road farm country that was truly remarkable..Our last stop in Illinois was in Elizabethtown. It was right on the Ohio River and luckily we got to stay on the lawn of a hotel for free. We had a cool breeze off the river and watched the sunrise in the morning.....it was one of those mornings where we wouldn't have rather been anywhere else!

Now we will jam our way through Kentucky and make our way to Virginia. I really only have one last piece of information to share with you. That is that i started this trip at 162 pounds and now I weigh 151! John started this trip at 207 pounds and now he weighs a cool 193. When you finally see us in person, it may shock you. I hope you enjoyed the pictures above! Much love to everyone. We miss you......

Hello Hello,

So good to be back writing again! It's tough to find Internet connection. Well, John and I cruised through eastern Colorado and left our girl Gillian(the prison guard) and jammed into Kansas...

Kansas was quite the experience. We rode right into harvest season, and wheat was being harvested all throughout the state! As a result, huge combine trucks blew by us and at times almost knocked us off the road.... The wheat fields were beautiful, as the golden hue gently hissed in the wind and gave off quite a hypnotic feeling. A lot of the cyclists we were meeting on the road had said that the difficulty of Kansas was dependent upon the wind. We got headwind pretty much the whole way and it made Kansas a pretty good work out even with the flat terrain. As i am sure you heard, John and i ran into rain, rain, rain, and more rain, which turned into flooding and detours!! Biking in the rain was awesome! The rain in Kansas was cool and it somehow has a invigorating effect on you while you are riding.

The flooding and rain caused problems in our route, and we would have not made it without the help of strangers! In small towns in Kansas families took us in, gave us showers, and showed us how remarkable the "American Spirit" can be. I can't tell you how incredible it is to be welcomed into peoples homes without any questions and feel immediately like family. Some memorable families include Bryan & Dulcie, who run their own Deli in Toronto Kansas. Byran put us up in his house and shared his life stories on his guitar.

For the 4th of July John and i jammed into Marshfield Missouri and attended our first Rodeo!!! Everyone was dressed in full cowboy/cowgirl outfits and we felt completely out of our element. It was right out of that scene in Borat, and john and i took the whole event in stride. The bull riding was very entertaining and the fireworks after were awesome. In my book, 4th of July at a rodeo in Missouri is too darn good.... Can you beat it?

As i write, John and I are in Houston Missouri making our way into the Ozark Mountains. The rain has finally stopped and the heat and humidity has settled in. We are staying the night at the Houston Motel, a mecca for cyclists cruising through the area.

We hope everyone is enjoying their summer. We love and miss all of you. Until next time, please keep thinking about us as much as we are thinking of you!

Hey Hey,

John and I can officially say that we made it through the Rocky Mountains. It was truly amazing and no words can really explain to you the breath taking scenery. It is something you must experience for yourself! The hardest part of our trek is pretty much over, we made it through most of the mountains, and we are currently in a small town in Eastern Colorado called Ordway. The night before, we stayed in Pueblo. We met a local cyclist on the road named Donald and he asked John and I if we wanted to crash at his house! We immediately said yes! Donald was quite the adventure man....He teaches in Burma during the year and has cycled all over the world...We set up camp in his backyard and met his wife Crista. They took us out to a local Bar that their family owns and we got free drinks all night! I had one! The next morning he took us to a local Mexican place called Taco Star. It was one of the best Mexican food i ever had. Truly delightful.

It was tough to leave Donald, but today we continued into Eastern Colorado. It was quite the change in terrain for us as everything is now flat! It has its advantages and disadvantages. We had a tough headwind today and we fought through 55 miles of riding in 100 degree heat. We ended up in Ordway, where we found about by another cyclist that their was a woman named Gillian who houses cyclists. So, we made our way to Gillian's crib and the rumor was true! Gillian works in a correctional facility down the road and has been housing cyclists for over 10 years! She is originally from New Zealand and has an amazing zest for life. She has stories of all of the cyclists she houses and remembers each one of their names! Truly remarkable. She let us do some laundry, got us some dinner, and as i write, John is in the other room knockin down some beers with her! This experience will be one John and i will remember forever and be a highlight of the trip!

I hope you enjoy the pictures we loaded below! They combine Utah and Colorado. By mid week we should be in Kansas, let's hope for a tailwind. Finally, to quote our good friend Donald in Pueblo,

'Riding on your bike for the summer is good livin'

No question about it. Good livin.....

Dear Friends,

Sorry for the delay! We have been enjoying ourselves way too much. I hope you caught some of our video in Utah, so much has happened since then. Utah was truly spectacular. The array of rock formations with vibrant colors of red, pink, and orange has been truly breathtaking. Utah was also hot as all hell (temp). Had it not been for the stunning mesas and rust colored plateaus, we may have dared to liken it to the barren terrain of Nevada. Our route in Utah took us through amazing National Parks. We cycled through Cedar Breaks National Park, where we got Junior Park Ranger status thanks to a friendly Ranger we met named Janice. I (Noah) sort of have a crush on Park Rangers! They are just so versatile.....Anyways, We then made our way through Bryce Canyon National Park where we continued to see amazing scenery and meet more Park Rangers. I think our favorite National Park was Capital Reef. We got to pick fresh Mulberries from the many orchards in the park, and John got about 20ft from a family of deer! It was at this point where Utah got very hot and very mentally and physically challenging. We biked in about 120 degree heat down near Lake Powell, which is an offshoot of the Colorado River and had to spend about 5 hours out of the sun just to keep on riding! Luckily, we met up with a new cyclist named Gunner! Gunner lives in California and has been jammin with us for a couple of days. Due to the fact that Southwest Utah is so desolate and barren, there is not a lot of places to get water and camp out. We learned that the heat takes a dramatic toll not only on your body as your water intake must be drastically increased, but also on our minds. The oppressive heat does some funky things to your psyche when you ride in it for eighth hours a day. Due to lack of campgrounds, and long mileage between towns, John, Gunner, and I had to camp out on the side of the road in Utah! It was quite the experience. The thing that was great about it is that we got to ride for the first time in the evening! The sun created amazing silhouettes on the mountains and the sunset was truly memorable. When we reached our "stealth" campsite John ran into a baby rattle snake under Gunner's tent. I clearly stayed in the tent and let them deal with it. I'm afraid of snacks and from LA. Lets be serious! After that little scare, the stars came out and it seemed as though we could see every one! We had a little dinner and made sure we didn't run out of water. Sleeping on the side of the road is something we don't recommend, but it had to be done!

Now, as i write we are in "colorful Colorado" Baby!
We are currently over 1,200 miles from our original starting destination in San Francisco and today marks the completion of our third week on the road. Today we did just over 82 miles from Blanding, UT into Delores, CO. You have no idea how truly lovely it is to see trees, lakes, and river beds with water actually flowing through them. We start our day tomorrow with a forty mile ascent to 10,220 ft. Just a day in the life of a touring cyclist. We love and miss you all. Your words of wisdom and comments of support are always nice for John and I to read after a long day of riding, so thank you all.

Johnny and Noah---aka SAUL

P.S. I am still trying to find a good Jewish Deli, but no luck so far. As a result, Mexican food will have to do!

Friends,

John and I have reached Utah! It has been an amazing journey! Our good friend Mike has taken another video of us! This time you get to see us riding. Enjoy! We are currently in Cedar City Utah. Tomorrow we have a 28 mile climb up to 10,000 feet!!! Wish us luck! Pray for us! Much Love!

Noah & John

The video link:

Friends,

We are now in Eureka, Nevada! On the road we met a fellow cyclist Mike who is also biking across the country! We rode with him today from Austin to Eureka and he took a video of John and I Biking! We hope you enjoy the video, hopefully you will feel as though you are with us for a quick second! Until next time, much love

Noah & John

The Video Link:

Dear Friends,

It is so great to be writing again. We have had quite the adventure since our last post. With the help Of Brian Levine (Noah's cousin,) we made it up the Sierra Mountains. As it turns out, we both ran out of water climbing the stretch of the Sierras from Pollock Pines to route 88! As it was roughly a 22 mile stretch, Noah made it near to the end before running out out of water, as I myself was less fortunate. As I ran out around mile fifteen, I was forced to salvage half full bottles of water from the roadside and mixed the warm water with snow from the peaks. Incredibly refreshing! Luckily by the time we both reached the end, Brian, who works for the Forest Service in the area, was working an overtime day and was glad to replenish our diminished water supplies and spirits with bottled water, Gatorade, and a friendly face. It was a day that challenged us physically, mentally, and geographically. By the way, make sure you show your love for the Forest Service. They do great work, we know!

By the time we hit the summit of the Sierra's we felt extremely accomplished (Carson Pass is at roughly 8500+). The Sierras provided us with some beautiful vistas and scenic landscapes, which we posed proudly in front of of course. We then made our descent down the mountain and stayed at the Silver lake Campground which, was situated right on a flowing set of river rapids. We took showers in the river, killed as many mosquito's as possible, sucked down some rice, and went to bed with a sense of satisfaction and contentment.

After days of biking, we were finally rewarded with our first State change! We exited the foothills of California's Sierras and entered the foothills of Nevada's rolling hills. We spent our first night in Carson City (the State Capital if you didn't know), and admired the many gas stations and car dealerships that seemed to dominate Nevada cities. Nothing special. We didn't gamble, and haven't been to any strip clubs....yet! (honest) From there we headed East to Fallon with newly purchased camel backs filled to the brim with the worst gas station water you can imagine. It is incredible how good bad water tastes sometimes though. It must have been almost 100 degrees that day with the Nevada heat consuming us and our two wheelers. The majority of our route in Nevada follows route 50-what Life Magazine, nearly 20 years ago dubbed, "The loneliest Road in America". Even well over a hundred miles into the over 400 mile stretch, it is apparent to us how and why the road received such a dubious distinction. In order to attempt to break the monotony we busted out my little radio and jammed to Reno's Soft Rock station while playing geography games to pass the time. Watch out for us on the road, we are a bunch of wild guys. Our next night in Nevada found us at one of the few and far between stops on route 50 called Cold Spring Station. They cooked us a nice dinner and we met an interesting military family as we finished dinner. When we were eating dinner the wife (grandmother) farted at the table loud enough so a high school boy in the locker room would have even gotten a couple of high fives. There was a brief moment of silence as Noah and I exchanged awkward glances as if to ask one another if what had just happened really happened since they both continued conversing like nothing really had happened.

As we write, we are recent (and proud) survivors of our first snow storm (Spring squall) on this trek in Austin, Nevada. Can you believe it? Snow in Nevada? We thought we were going to work on our tans! Anyways, we got caught at about 7,300 feet in a brutal snow storm and for the second time on this trip needed to be "rescued" by local law enforcement! Ah the benefits of a college education. The Sheriff of the town came and got us and brought us down to a motel. It is here in Austin where we are taking our first day off and letting the snow pass us by.

In the coming days, we will venture into Utah and make our way into Colorado to take on the Rockies! More stories to come, much love to all!!

John & Noah---aka SAUl

Hello to All!

It is Day three into our cross-country journey and John and I are at the base of the Sierra mountains in California. We are currently staying with cousins of mine (Noah), Brian and Faye in Placerville.

The journey so far has been truly incredible. As we left San Francisco we started biking in Vallejo and made our way Northeast towards Rockville and Cordelia. The golden hills of California and the vibrant greenery of wineries and vineyards has been spectacular. We spent our first night in the town of Winters at a camp ground on Lake Solano. We waded around in the lake up to our lower thighs and it took a little goading on from each of us to motivate the initial plunge. The early summer water temperature took our breath away and assured our short lived lake experience. That night we made quesadillas and fell asleep to the sounds of a peacock that resided near our tent.

Day two we continued Northeast and made our way into Davis. The bike capital of the world! It's a great college town, home of UC Davis, and truly packed full of bikers. I must say, the ladies were very attractive as well. Oh how we miss college. We biked through Davis and had lunch in Sacramento in a portion of the city called the Old Town. It resembled the old west with the three story saloon style buildings, which for some reason appeared to be home to the Tattoo district of Sacramento. We didn't get one, yet... It was in Sacramento where we picked up the Jedediah Smith National bike trial. We met so many bikers who took an interest in our travels. Having this support was great as the other cyclists would ride and talk with us about our journey and provide us with a bit of inspiration and energy. After a 65 mile day, we arrived in Folsom, content but utterly exhausted. We stayed at Lake Natoma Inn, had our first shower and some great Mexican food. From the hospitable staff at the Inn we learned some interesting facts about Folsom. It has the cleanest water in California, which is why Kikkoman(the soy sauce) is made in Folsom! Folsom is also home to the Intel front offices.

After a nice shower we started day three riding past the Folsom Prison where Johnny Cash played. You can barely see it from the road, but you can't help having a Cash song in your head as you cruise by. The hills were tough today, but every single day we get stronger. Now, as we write to you, we are in Placerville at about 2,200 feet. Tomorrow we will bike up the Sierra Mountains which are at about 8,000 feet and soon come into Nevada. We have quite the day ahead of us.

We will be in touch when we can. We love you all.

Noah & Johnny---aka SAUL

We decided it was best not to fight Memorial Day weekend traffic and are departing tomorrow morning, Tuesday May 29th bright and early at 6am. John and I want to thank all of our friends and family for their support, especially those who donated to our trip. If you were not aware, John and I raised $5,700 for Crystal Spring. It is truly amazing the support we got!!!!!

We love all of you, and wish us luck on our travels. This journey will be one of the most life changing experiences in our lives and we look forward to sharing it with all of you! Enjoy the summer, we will be thinking of you as much as you will be thinking about us.

With Love,

John and Noah---aka SAUL

Click on the "comments" button to add and view posts. Also, don't forget to sign your name or create a title. -Noah and Johnny